Beach Haven Fire Co. members assist with Parkway car fire rescue, marriage proposal days before Christmas

For a shore town fire department operating in the off-season, members of the Beach Haven Volunteer Fire Co. have had a lot of action the past few days.

Pat O’Donnell, lieutenant and president of the fire company, was at the right place at the right time Monday morning, when he helped put out a car fire on the Garden State Parkway. O’Donnell, who also owns a pool table service company, said he was traveling southbound from the Meadowlands to another job in Little Egg Harbor when he noticed a woman driving a minivan with smoke “pouring out of the hood.” After pulling over, the vehicle erupted into flames, trapping the woman’s baby in the back of the van, O’Donnell said.

Photo via Facebook
Four days before Christmas, Jenna Anderson
and Lewie Letts, both members of the local
fire company, got engaged to be married.

“The baby was so small. It was an infant,” he told The SandPaper later that afternoon.

Members of the Forked River Volunteer Fire Co. were notified of the incident near Parkway exit 74 around 11 a.m. and were on their way to the scene at the time.

In the interim, O’Donnell helped snuff out the fire with two extinguishers carried by a firefighter from the Lanoka Harbor fire department, who had also stopped to help. The baby was then rescued from the vehicle.

“Another minute was about all we had,” said O’Donnell. “If she hadn’t pulled over when she did, we might not have been able to get to the baby in time.”

As a volunteer firefighter, O’Donnell claimed the rescue was “not really that big a deal.”

“Of course I’m going to stop; it’s instinct,” he said. “I’m a volunteer, so I’m basically on-call. If the whistle goes off, I go. Any one of the guys from my department would have done the same thing.”

This incident followed another dramatic event involving Beach Haven Fire Co. members.

The previous day, the fire company rallied around Deputy Chief Lewie Letts, helping him pull off a surprise marriage proposal during the company’s annual holiday fire truck rides.

Letts, who has been volunteering with the company since 2005, proposed Sunday to fellow firefighter Jenna Anderson. Letts’ sister, Kristen Jackson, helped distract Anderson with a gift of a dozen roses during a group photo with Santa, while Letts got down on one knee behind her.

“It was amazing; it couldn’t have been better,” Letts said. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget her face when she turned around. I was super excited. I knew she was going to say yes. There was no doubt.”

Anderson did say yes, and the couple embraced each other while surrounded by friends and family.

Letts said he had been planning the proposal "since before Thanksgiving." He wanted to enjoy it with everyone, but also make it “a total surprise,” he explained.

The couple has been dating for the past two years, after meeting at the firehouse. They both come from a long line of retired and active local firefighters.

— Kelley Anne Essinger


This article was published in The SandPaper.